Riverdale season 2 won't just differ from the first season in length. (Season 2 will have 22 installments as opposed to season 1's 13.) The central mystery will a lot different. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa teased that season 2 won't be another murder mystery. Instead the teen soap will be shooting for a thriller vibe, with horror undertones, a la an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

"The one thing I was nervous about was doing another murder mystery," Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa explained, "because it felt like the Jason thing was done so well that I was nervous about doing one that felt like a pale imitation game of the first one. So we started talking about different genres."

While Roberto and crew toyed around with the idea of going for a straight horror vibe, he ultimately decided that horror would be "too big" for the world of Riverdale. It seems like Riverdale won't take the more supernatural and magical aspects of the horror genre, but keep the idea of fear and paranoia.

Aguirre-Sacasa said that season 2 takes a healthy amount of inspiration from the Hitchcock movie, Shadow of a Doubt. Roberto described the movie as "Our Town with a killer on the loose." It's that constant sense of paranoia that Riverdale will focus on in season 2.

"The big theme is what happens when you're living with fear day in and day out that something terrible might happen," the showrunner explained. "And how your life changes when you're walking home from school and you see someone and you cross to the other side of the street. Or when you go to bed, you triple-check your front door to make sure it's locked."

This fits in with the newly released trailer for season 2. The trailer, which contains almost entirely new footage, focuses quite a bit on the aftermath of season 1's cliffhanger, the shooting of Fred Andrews. It appears that Fred's shooting will be the jumping-off point for this paranoia and his shooter might even be the "killer on the loose" in season 2.

The trailer sees Jughead talking about the motive for, presumably, Fred's shooting as well as shots of Archie's dad, alive, but in serious condition in the hospital. There are also the standard sexy shots, including shower sex between Archie and Veronica, but mostly the trailer sets up an atmosphere of fear, especially concerning Archie. Archie can be seen in one brief moment appearing to receive a gun from Dilton Doiley as well as having a gun pointed at his head.

As much as the trailer focuses on Archie, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa promises that Betty will be the at the center of season 2's creepy mystery. Lili Reinhart, who plays Betty, explained that Betty's speech in the season 1 finale about the town of Riverdale needing to do better will have "huge repercussions" for all the characters, but especially Betty herself.

"I would say by episode 4 and 5, Betty is absolutely in the heart of darkness," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "We're putting her through the fires like never before. I can't say too much because there's a couple of big twists, but Betty is absolutely at the heart of the darkest story we're telling this season."

With the extended length of season 2, it's slightly worrying whether Riverdale will be able to keep up the tension throughout the season. Hopefully though, the central mystery will be much bigger and therefore will include more characters than just the murder of Jason Blossom.

What do you think? Are you excited that season 2 is going for a scary tone? Is that the right move? Are you excited for more Betty-focused action?